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MPs slam funding crisis and ‘postcode lottery’ of children’s services

March 21, 2017

Children’s social services are being engulfed by a funding crisis in which nine out of 10 local authorities are struggling to meet their legal duties and families face a postcode lottery, a damning report has concluded. to take children into care.” data-reactid=”15″>The inquiry by MPs, led by a former Conservative children’s minister, Tim Loughton, has found “wildly different approaches” in the ways that councils intervene and how likely they are to take children into care. The report – shared exclusively with the Guardian – found that in one part of the country (Blackpool) more than seven times as many children were being taken into care than in another (Richmond in London). It also cited a tenfold difference in the numbers being referred to services in the first place: from 187 per 10,000 children in one area to a massive 1,753 in another. The report, by the all-party parliamentary group for children, also suggested that councils were coping with a spending squeeze by tightening up the criteria by which they classify a child as being in need – cutting thousands out of the system altogether. One council told MPs that the numbers of children in need was being “grossly under-reported” because of “the reality of rapidly rising thresholds that arise from reducing resource”. Loughton said the inquiry had revealed that children’s services were stretched to the limit “and in many cases on the brink” and called on the government to urgently investigate the “extraordinary differentials”. “Any vulnerable child deserves the same…more detail

The snow lay a foot deep as I slid my way alongside railway tracks, and it had covered the nearby piles of abandoned sleepers and dishevelled huts in a thick white coat. In front of me were two decrepit wooden carriages – smoke seeped from a home-made chimney stack poking out on one side. I parted a stained brown rug hanging over a doorway. Inside were eight teenage boys, some huddled beneath blankets for warmth in temperatures plunging to minus 15 degrees. One coughed repeatedly, telling me he was sick. Another stared disconsolately through the steamed-up window. A third had…... [read more]

One is the story of starched collars, tea trays and the last days of the stately homes of England. The other tells of the bleak descent into hell of an unassuming chemistry teacher who becomes a drugs baron in New Mexico. While ITV's Downton Abbey offers solace and shimmering evening dresses, AMC's Breaking Bad confronts us with a contemporary underworld of vacant-eyed addicts. These two hit series represent opposite poles of a thriving television culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Each has reached big and loyal audiences by taking wildly different approaches to drama. But on Sunday night the…... [read more]

This week is Children's Mental Health Week and Place2Be are encouraging everyone to 'spread a little kindness' to others. When you next see someone who could benefit from support, spare a moment, and show you care. As one of the children who took part in the survey puts it best: "It would be kind if someone came up to me if I was upset because it would make me feel like a somebody." Nick Clegg Former leader of the Lib Dems and MP for Sheffield Hallam You're in a room full of people but you feel totally alone. Your mind…... [read more]

This Children's Mental Health Week we are reminded that all too often it is our next generation who is disproportionately affected by our country's inadequate mental health services. The tragedy is that while we know it is most effective to intervene early when a mental health concern first arises, which in many cases is in childhood, young people's provision is a Cinderella service within our NHS. Many people would be shocked to learn that 75% of mental illness starts before the age of 18, and in the average classroom there will be three children living with a mental health problem.…... [read more]

David Mowat, a health minister, last week told a select committee that we need “to start thinking as a society about how we deal with the care of our own parents” (Care of elderly parents should be your responsibility, says minister, 31 January). He contrasted the approach with that of looking after children – “it is just what you do” – and argued that looking after our parents “is a similar responsibility in terms of our lifecycle”. The inference appeared to be that he does not believe that family carers are doing enough, despite him acknowledging that there are six…... [read more]

Labour’s PFI deal to rebuild Royal Stoke University Hospital wasted money So I suppose I should take it as a compliment that Labour is running this lie against me in the Stoke-on-Trent Central byelection in which I am the Ukip candidate. As well as smearing its opponents, running this scare also allows it to remind people that a generation of Labour politicians after the Second World War founded the NHS. To be fair there is no doubt that people such as Clement Attlee and Aneurin Bevan were in at the start. But if Labour was the parent of the NHS…... [read more]

Image caption Willie Rennie has has targeted up to £400m of additional spending in talks with the government The Liberal Democrats have set out funding for education, mental health and transport links as their demands for backing the Scottish budget. The government is currently negotiating with the Lib Dems and Greens to strike a deal to get its budget plans passed. Green co-convener Patrick Harvie has asked for concessions over tax, while Lib Dem Willie Rennie has targeted up to £400m of additional spending. Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has said he is "positive" about winning support. With the SNP a…... [read more]

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If mental health is the Cinderella service of the NHS, then child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) is the Cinderella service of the Cinderella service. It’s a cliche that bears repeating, because the reality of children’s mental health services in this country still falls woefully short of the vision set by the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives during the coalition government. One in 10 children suffers from depression, anxiety or another diagnosable mental health problem, and 75% of mental illness starts before the age of 18. Intervening early with effective, evidence-based support can not only stop a child’s condition deteriorating…... [read more]

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